People need to remember that referees in the Premier League are discouraged from showing what some may call unnecessary yellow cards (as they could lead to unnecessary red cards) as it 'ruins the spectacle'. So the reason why we haven't seen refereeing action on time wasting early is precisely that reason. Quite frankly Mike Dean's approach is as good as we'll get it. It's clear that he's not ignoring the time wasting as he's giving a lot of injury time, just like he did against Bournemouth and we experienced against Southampton.
I tell you what, we can criticise these refs as much as we want for not showing the yellow early on but I can assure you that if they did they'd be getting a grand old bollocking off Messrs Riley and co. The fact is that this 'poor' officiating is systematic and so it can only be assumed that it's coming from upstairs.
[It's like Clattenburg the other day. You can have a go at him all you want but the reason he did what he did is because that kind of behaviour has been encouraged by the powers that be]
Now ask yourself what's better 'for the spectacle'. City winning 3-0 or City winning in the 97th minute? Now if it's the latter wouldn't you want more City games to pan out that way if you could help it? That's exactly what the PL and co. are going for. Because remember, rules are great and all. But money's better.
I tell you what, we can criticise these refs as much as we want for not showing the yellow early on but I can assure you that if they did they'd be getting a grand old bollocking off Messrs Riley and co. The fact is that this 'poor' officiating is systematic and so it can only be assumed that it's coming from upstairs.
[It's like Clattenburg the other day. You can have a go at him all you want but the reason he did what he did is because that kind of behaviour has been encouraged by the powers that be]
Now ask yourself what's better 'for the spectacle'. City winning 3-0 or City winning in the 97th minute? Now if it's the latter wouldn't you want more City games to pan out that way if you could help it? That's exactly what the PL and co. are going for. Because remember, rules are great and all. But money's better.